A Worthing family escaped through thick smoke after flames ripped through their kitchen in the early hours.

David and Tamara Isbell and their daughter Charly were taken to Worthing Hospital after the fire at their flat in Shelby Road, Durrington.

Mr Isball was kept in hospital overnight and treated for the effects of smoke after he was woken by fumes at 3am.

He said: "I woke up choking, so I knew straight away there was something wrong. The room was full of smoke."

Mrs Isball said: "My husband shouted at me to get up and turn the light on. There was smoke everywhere and I panicked about Charly. I didn't know where the fire was coming from and I was worried she might be hurt.

"We grabbed her and the dog and just got out as soon as we could. It was such a shock, but there was no time to think about it."

Charly, four, was unharmed in the blaze on Saturday morning.

Firefighters led the family to safety and tackled the fire in the kitchen. The rest of the flat was severely smoke damaged.

Mrs Isball said: "We are just so lucky to be alive. If my husband hadn't woken up when he did, I don't know what would have happened. We could all have been dead."

The family had not got round to fitting a smoke alarm since moving to the flat more than a year ago.

Mrs Isball said: "You just think something like that won't happen to you, and then it does and you're not protected."